In any event, even if one had never immersed himself in such econometric nitty-gritty, he would have excellent grounds for skepticism. First, to say that women earn less than men is not the same as saying that the same employers pay men more than equally value-productive women. Earnings reflect many choices by women who work as well as by employers who hire.

[T]erm premiums have recently been zero or even slightly negative. That's consistent with the fact that, in a world of low inflation and accommodative monetary policy, as we have today, holding longer-term bonds may actually reduce the overall risk of investors' portfolios. For example, bad news about the economic outlook hurts stocks, but tends to be good for bond prices (which are inversely related to yields), as a weaker outlook implies that central banks will have to hold rates lower for longer. Bonds can also provide a hedge against the risk of deflation, since falling consumer prices increase the real value of the fixed dollar payments that bondholders receive. If longer-term bonds are a hedge against risk, then investors should be willing to accept low or even negative compensation for holding bonds rather than short-term securities.

Fukuyama, following Putnam’s call to arms, hails the importance of the family structure and the need for parents’ commitment to their children’s future. He insists that early childhood stimulation, appropriate role models, stable expectations and family dinners are all “part of the environment needed to produce upwardly mobile adults”. But adds that most of these elements are absent in the lives of Americans from less educated backgrounds. He states that economic inequality becomes “self-reinforcing through the mechanism of absent families”.